No builder will benefit from SRA proposal: Maha CM

Fadnavis said five trusts in Mumbai have large land holdings and their owners have not come forward to develop the land, which is heavily encroached.MUMBAI: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday that he will ensure no builder unduly benefits from a controversial proposal mooted by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA).

He was responding to a TOI report on how the SRA plans to offer a huge construction bonanza to developers who build transit camps for slum-dwellers or rental housing free of cost. The SRA would then compensate these builders by allowing them almost double the floor space index (FSI) on their more lucrative plots in the island city.

NGOs and activists have described the proposal as another ‘FSI scam’ meant to favour a clutch of builders.

“The proposal is not final. It’s for suggestions and objections,’’ said Fadnavis, who is also the SRA chairman. “Some people have brought to my notice that it can be misused if FSI 4 is given. I last week instructed the SRA CEO and urban development department principal secretary to put up all calculations. The government, while approving the proposal, will amend it suitably so that no one should get extra and undeserved benefit,’’ the CM told TOI.

The proposal offers builders FSI 3 in the island city against the base FSI of 1.33 and a humungous FSI 4 in the suburbs compared to the existing FSI of 2.5. FSI determines how much can be built on a plot.

Architect Nitin Killawala said the “disturbing’’ proposal “was like feeding the poor free in a cheap, roadside dhaba and getting to eat a free meal in a five-star hotel in the city.” He said the SRA should be abolished. A developer alleged “mala fide’’ intentions behind the SRA proposal. “It will create a huge imbalance in the use of FSI,’’ he said.

The SRA wants to amend development control rule 33 (14). Now, only suburban builders can avail of its construction benefits. The SRA wants to extend it to the island city, where property prices in are the highest in the country.

Currently, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is levied at 12 per cent on payments made for under-construction property or ready-to-move-in flats where completion certificate has not been issued at the time of sale.